Tom Thum: Beating the Habit – Sydney Festival

Overview

The upcoming Sydney Festival has got some pretty weird and wonderful acts on the bill. But few will be have as little accompaniment and yet be quite as astonishing as Tom Thum.

Hailing from Brisbane, Thum has been described as a “beatboxing virtuoso”. A one-man sound system, Thum performs with only a microphone and his voice, producing music that ranges from hip hop to Soft Cell to the sound of trumpets in New Orleans circa 1938.

Gaining recent popularity with a string of world tours and accumulated accolades with his 'Tom Tom Crew', this is Thum’s first solo appearance to date. And it looks to be him at his best — a kaleidoscope of impossible beats, phenomenal notes and sounds that just generally evoke an entire orchestra worth of instruments.

Want more Sydney Festival events? Check out our top ten picks of the festival. Image by Conan White.